Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research

About: Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research is a facility organization based out in Birmensdorf, Switzerland. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Climate change & Soil water. The organization has 1256 authors who have published 3222 publications receiving 161639 citations. The organization is also known as: WSL.

Morphological and physiological responses of Scots pine fine roots to water supply in a dry climatic region in Switzerland.

Abstract: In recent decades, Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) forests in inner-Alpine dry valleys of Switzerland have suffered from drought and elevated temperatures, resulting in a higher mortality rate of trees than the mean mortality rate in Switzerland. We investigated the responses of fine roots (standing crop, morphological and physiological features) to water supply in a Scots pine forest in the Rhone valley. Before irrigation started in 2003, low- and high-productivity Scots pine trees were selected based on their crown transparency. The fine root standing crop measured in spring from 2003 to 2005 was unaffected by the irrigation treatment. However, irrigation significantly enhanced the fine root standing crop during the vegetation period when values from spring were compared with values from fall in 2005. Irrigation slightly increased specific root length but decreased root tissue density. Fine root O2-consumption capacity decreased slightly in response to the irrigation treatment. Using ingrowth cores to observe the responses of newly produced fine roots, irrigation had a significantly positive effect on the length of fine roots, but there were no differences between the low- and high-productivity trees. In contrast to the weak response of fine roots to irrigation, the aboveground parts responded positively to irrigation with more dense crowns. The lack of a marked response of the fine root biomass to irrigation in the low- and high-productivity trees suggests that fine roots have a high priority for within-tree carbon allocation.

Selection through predation, snowfall and microclimate on nest-site preferences in the Water Pipit Anthus spinoletta

Abstract: Nest-site characteristics can have a strong impact on reproductive success in birds. Nest sites should simultaneously protect from predators, offer shelter and provide a favourable microclimate. We studied the relationship between three agents of natural selection (predators [i.e. Adders and birds/mammals], snowfall and microclimate), nest-site characteristics and reproductive success to determine whether these influenced preference for specific nest-site characteristics in the Water Pipit Anthus spinoletta. Pooled over all nests, the relative importance as agents of natural selection decreased from mammalian/avian predation (15% of all nests) through Adder predation (12%) to snowfall (7%), but there were clear differences in space and time. Predation by Adders selected for nest sites surrounded by few medium-sized shrubs. Selection by mammalian and avian predators favoured no specific nest-site characteristics. Protection from snowfall was best in nests surrounded by relatively few medium-sized shrubs. Microclimate had a strong influence on nestling survival and duration of nestling period. In nests on ENE-facing slopes, where maximum temperatures were reached in the morning, nestling survival was higher than on WSW-facing slopes, where temperature maxima occurred in the afternoon. Our results indicate that weak, but significant, directional selection is acting on preference for certain nest-site characteristics through effects on survival and development of nestlings. As predation and snowfall are unpredictable, the evolution of an optimal nest placement strategy is unlikely on a small scale. On a larger scale, however, choice of one breeding area over another may be favoured because of predictable differences between locations in terms of survival and nestling development.

Spatial patterns and broad-scale weather cues of beech mast seeding in Europe.

Abstract: Summary Mast seeding is a crucial population process in many tree species, but its spatio-temporal patterns and drivers at the continental scale remain unknown Using a large dataset (8000 masting observations across Europe for years 1950–2014) we analysed the spatial pattern of masting across the entire geographical range of European beech, how it is influenced by precipitation, temperature and drought, and the temporal and spatial stability of masting–weather correlations Beech masting exhibited a general distance-dependent synchronicity and a pattern structured in three broad geographical groups consistent with continental climate regimes Spearman's correlations and logistic regression revealed a general pattern of beech masting correlating negatively with temperature in the summer 2 yr before masting, and positively with summer temperature 1 yr before masting (ie 2T model) The temperature difference between the two previous summers (DeltaT model) was also a good predictor Moving correlation analysis applied to the longest eight chronologies (74–114 yr) revealed stable correlations between temperature and masting, confirming consistency in weather cues across space and time These results confirm widespread dependency of masting on temperature and lend robustness to the attempts to reconstruct and predict mast years using temperature data

Virtual database: Spatial analysis in a Web-based data management system for distributed ecological data

Abstract: New challenges and requirements for the management of environmental data require improved data interoperability, data integration and data sharing. This paper describes the conceptual design and implementation of the Virtual Database as an integrated environmental and landscape information system which supports corresponding techniques and methods. The Virtual Database consists of a framework for advanced Web-based retrieval, analysis, and visualization of spatially related environmental data based on the integration of distributed data repositories. Existing Internet solutions for disseminating spatial data, such as geoportals or WebGIS, essentially provide functionality for searching, mapping, publishing and limited querying. The main focus of this paper is on extending these techniques by offering spatial analysis capabilities applicable to distributed data sets. The current prototype version of the Virtual Database supports methods for applying spatial filters and performing spatial overlays. The implementation is based on modular and service-oriented software design, open specifications and open source software but also considers proprietary products where appropriate. Our results confirm the strategy of enforcing openness and modularity for reasons of extendibility and maintainability.